Motor vehicles often include an inflatable restraint apparatus having an airbag device with a deployable airbag positioned in or behind an interior vehicle panel, such as an instrument panel, door panel, seats, and the like. Many interior panels include an integrated airbag door formed into the interior panel that is designed to break free upon deployment of the airbag. Often an area of the interior panel surrounding the integrated airbag door is scored or pre-weakened to form a seam that facilitates a clean airbag deployment e.g., airbag deployment with minimal or no fragmentation.
Foam-in-place (FIP) interior panels are often used to provide a padded finish to desired areas of the interiors of motor vehicles. FIP interior panels include a substrate and a skin covering with a foam layer formed between the skin covering and the substrate to provide padding for a softer finish. During fabrication, the foam layer is typically formed by injecting a foam forming material(s) between the substrate and the skin covering. In FIP interior panels that include an airbag device, an opening is typically defined in the substrate to accommodate the airbag device.
In one example, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,237,797 issued to Dailey et al., a modular airbag door assembly that includes a door panel and a separate airbag chute that are assembled together and mounted to a substrate of a FIP instrument panel. The modular airbag door assembly is positioned on a front side of the substrate with the door panel extending over an opening formed through the substrate and the airbag chute extending through the opening to the back side of the substrate. A pre-weakened skin covering with an underlying foam layer is then formed over the front side of the substrate so that the modular airbag door assembly is integrated into the FIP instrument panel hidden behind the pre-weakened skin covering and the foam layer. An airbag device is then mounted to both the chute portion and the substrate adjacent to the back side of the substrate. Unfortunately, this arrangement is relatively complex using multiple parts including a door panel and a separate airbag chute during assembly. Additionally, deploying the airbag can sometimes result in the door panel opening uneven through the pre-weakened skin covering and the foam layer which can affect, for example, unfolding of the airbag outside of the FIP instrument panel and/or whether the airbag deployment is clean with minimal or no fragmentation. Further improvements in controlling the opening of the door panel and the deployment of the airbag are needed.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide FIP interior panels having integrated airbag doors with improvements for assembling including reducing the complexity and the number of corresponding parts. Additionally, it is desirable to provide FIP interior panels having integrated airbag doors with improved control during airbag deployment. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.